Critical Essay by Donald D. Stone

In the following essay, Stone argues that the realism and anti-romanticism of the stories in the first series of Tales of All Countries paradoxically reflect Trollope's "own deeply romantic nature. That reality will not conform to one's fanciful or youthful impressions is a source of both comedy and pathos for Trollope."

"Mr. Trollope is alone in his power of telling a story about absolutely nothing," grumbled the Saturday Review critic assigned to the novelist's first collection of short stories, Tales of All Countries (first series, 1861). "Every page is in its way entertaining, and is well written with a certain force and grace, and yet it is all about nothing whatever." As far as his early short stories were concerned, Trollope probably would not have disagreed...